Compound for the treatment of silk and rayon



Patented Oct. 10, 1933 UNlTED "STATES PATENT COMPOUND FOR THE TREATMENT 0F SILK 'ANDBAYON 1 Frank P. Miller, Detroit, Mich. V

Application September 8 1931 Serial No. 561,810

7 Claims. (Cl. 13 118) No' Drawing.

This invention relates to a solution or compound for the treatment of naturally very fragile and easily torn fabrics, and has for its object an improved combination of substances which are designed to be mingled with an aqueous base in which such fragile material as the rayon silk now so much used for hosiery is adapted to be dipped for the impregnation of the mass thereof with a deposit from the immersing liquid which so unites and binds together the minute and individually frayable threadlike particles that the tendency thereof to develop a run is efficiently counteracted. Among the beneficial results attendant upon the use of my improved components may be enumerated the added setting of the dye with which 40 moved and allowed to dry,

the fabric may have been colored, as well as the sterilization of the latter, so that it' will not irritatingly affect the skin when the hosiery or other garment comes in contact with it, though as stated the primary object is the strengthening ofthe fabric against rending in the form of linear runs.

My preferred proportion of ingredients for effecting this desired result comprises Percent by weight A mixture of substantially these proportions is dissolved in lukewarm water in the proportion 0 of one teaspoonful to an ordinary table glass full for each pair of hosiery whose treatment is desired. If the powder has been thoroughly mingled in the water, the hosiery or other garment is immersed therein and left for a period of about thirty minutes, after which it is reand then washed with clean water and mild soap flakes. Precaution should be taken against the treatment in the same solution at the same time of garments of more than one color because of the tendency of some dyes to fade and run before the dye-setting influence of the solution here offered has had an opportunity to work.

Slight variations from the foregoing compound are permissible according to the particular circumstances of each case, for example, if the garment or hosiery to be treated are white or colorless, the use of salt is optional since the principal purpose of its presence is to contribute to the adequate setting of the dye with which the fabrics may have been treated. Similarly as to the elements gum arabic and casein, whose total contribution as outlined above preferably amounts to 2.25 per cent of the whole, a variance of as much as per cent therefrom may be indulged in, since the function of each of these components is in general that of imparting an adhesive or bound-together character to the fibres as a whole, and a greater or less degree of this may be preferable, or indeed neces- 5 sary, sometimes to the degree of omitting one or both, though it has been my experience that there should be some mucilaginous content to give the desired degree of adhesion of the compound to the fabric particles, and to counteract the tendency of the alum to induce shrinkage of the fabric when dried. Such variances as this are largely influenced by and dependent upon the particular fabric character of the article to be treated. An excess of either of these mucilaginous components above the amount stated, however, is likely to leave with the article, when its described treatment has been completed, a surface character which is undesirably sticky or adhesive. For some uses, gum 8 0 tragacanth may be used substitutively for gum arabic. In the case of the omission or modification in the proportion of any of these components, the percentage allotted to those remaining may be increased or decreased accordingly. This however will in the aggregate amount to very little, since the total contribution of all three, salt, gum arabic (or gum tragacanth) and casein as above offered in the preferred formula, constitutes but 2.75 per cent of Q the whole.

What I claim is:

, 1. A solution for integrating the constituent fibres of hosiery and lingerie articles, comprising in combination with a carrying fluid, substantially seventy per cent of alum, twentyseven per cent of boric acid, two per cent of gum arabic and one per cent apportioned between salt and casein, all percentages of the recited initially solid components being by weight.

2. The combination, with a suitable quantity of carrying fluid, of substantially seventy per cent of alum, twenty-seven per cent of boric acid, two per cent of gum arabic, and a total ,105 of one per cent divided between salt and casein.

3. A powder compound adapted for fluid-mingled conversion into a solution for the treatment of selected fabrics, comprising approximately seventy per cent of alum, two per cent of gum ,llO

arabic, twenty-seven per cent of boric acid, and a one per cent content of salt and casein.

4. In combination withan aqueous base, in-

gredients comprising substantially seventy per cent of alum, twenty-seven per cent of boric acid, two per cent of gum arabicand a total of i not more-than oneper cent of salt and casein,

the relative 'proportion'ing of the twolatter to one another being approximately two to onei 5; A compound designed for association with an aqueous phase for the immersing treatment.

of fabric, comprising approximately seventy per cent of alum, twenty-seven per cent of-boric acid, and not exceedingthree per cent of the total apportioned between gum arabic andcase-- in with the former predominating in the proportion of not less than fourpar'ts thereof itbone of the latter.

6. A compound for fluid-efi'ected impregnation of a fabric, comprising substantially seventy per cent of alum, twenty-seven per cent of boric acid, and a total of not exceeding three per cent of I gum arabic and casein, the proportion of thelatter to the gum arabiccontent being appreciably, smaller.

7. A comminglecl a ueousiy borne mixture for p v the impregnation of hosiery fabric, comprising a predominant proportion of alum and boric acid in the approximate proportion of seventy per centandtwenty-seven per cent, with an optionally added three 'per cent by weightrelatively to those already named, such addition pr ominantlycomprisinggum arabic and a markedly lesser content of salt and casein.

FRANK P. MILLER. 

